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  • Sexual harassment audit has changed my view of my campus

    Sexual harassment audit has changed my view of my campus


    Sonoma State University

    Credit: Rosie Padilla / EdSource

    How could the school where I feel so supported also have one of the worst sexual assault report rates of all California State University campuses?

    A detailed audit conducted and released by the state of California on July 18 has uncovered the mishandling of sexual assault reports and investigations on CSU campuses.

    Sonoma State University, where I attend school, has a student body of around 7,000. The campus had 43 reports of sexual harassment between 2016 and 2022 while the much larger California State University, Los Angeles, received 39 reports with around 27,000 students. California State University Maritime Academy is the only institution with a worse rate, at 10 reports with 880 students, as detailed in the audit.

    The audit closely reviewed a sample of 40 of these harassment reports in the CSU system; 21 of them were investigated by the Chancellor’s Office. Seven of those 21 cases were deemed deficient in their determination of whether sexual harassment really occurred.

    As a woman, I am already on guard a lot of the time. I have been sexually harassed outside campus, and know how degrading it can feel, but it has never been part of my educational experience. Knowing that there is a possibility of speaking up about an incident that deeply affects me but not getting the acknowledgment I wanted would be devastating. The campus Chancellor’s Office formally investigated only half of the reported incidents, so it pains me to know that there are possibly victims in these cases that weren’t taken seriously.

    These numbers have created a sense of unsafety and mistrust on the campus where I once felt so comfortable. As a transfer student, I quickly made friends, became accustomed to the culture of the school, and felt supported by faculty. The experience I have gained as a journalist has been largely from Sonoma State. Although I have felt a deep connection to the school, I have come to understand that others have not had the same luxury.

    Hannah Rock, a junior in Sonoma State’s Hutchins School of Liberal Studies reflects on a past scandal, “We heard about the Judy Sakaki allegations, but every other allegation was kept quiet. Now that the audit has been released, we finally know the real numbers,” Rock said. Sakaki is the former president of Sonoma State and was allegedly involved in a retaliation scandal against multiple female CSU employees. CSU paid a $600,000 settlement to the women that accused Sakaki’s husband, education lobbyist Patrick McCallum, of sexual harassment.

    The audit notes that a lack of “standardized data collection and analysis across its campuses” is limiting the CSU Chancellor’s Office from identifying, understanding and analyzing the problem of sexual harassment. I believe that because there is no standard data collection method, legislation should be passed to address the systemwide problem. A California state senator created a bill to do just that.

    California Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, introduced Senate Bill 808 in February to create a systemwide method of reporting sexual harassment cases to better handle them, as well as to reduce future incidents. The bill has passed the Senate and Assembly and is now waiting for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval.

    “The bill is focusing on one aspect: Schools have to report cases and reports to the Legislature and on school websites,” said Paul Payne, Dodd’s press secretary. “The audit made us aware of how serious the problem is, and it’s worse than anticipated.”

    SB 808 requires that reports and cases of sexual harassment be reported to the Legislature and published on a school’s website on or before Dec. 1 of each year. If there was mandatory annual reporting, I believe it would prevent some cases from happening because of extra transparency, both student-on-student and faculty harassment. I know that if I searched a school’s website and saw 30 cases of sexual harassment within a few-year period, it would cause me to question attending the school. I also know that mandatory reporting would make me feel safer.

    In addition to mandatory reporting, a new policy created by the CSU Chancellor’s Office says that any administrator who has been terminated or separated from the institution will no longer be able to “retreat” to a lower faculty position, a practice known as retreat rights. Currently, if an administrator is not terminated following a sexual assault allegation, they may remain at the school, according to the CSU policy.

    “Retreat rights will likely be dealt with in further legislation,” Payne said. “This audit has made us aware of further legislation that needs to be created.”

    The CSU system would benefit greatly from a more secure and honest report database. Students, faculty and administrators deserve to feel safe and supported on their campuses. Sonoma State has given me so many opportunities, but after the audit, I don’t feel as comfortable on campus.

    •••

    Olivia Keeler is a fourth-year communications and media studies major at Sonoma State University and a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Bills address sexual harassment in California public colleges

    Bills address sexual harassment in California public colleges


    Students walk near Laxson Auditorium on the Chico State campus.

    Credit: Jason Halley/University Photographer/Chico State

    California lawmakers introduced a series of bills Monday to prevent and address sexual discrimination and harassment in the state’s colleges and universities.

    The 12-bill package led by Assemblymember Mike Fong, who chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee, follows a report released in February that detailed significant deficiencies in how the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges handle Title IX. That federal law prohibits schools from sex-based discrimination.

    “This package is a crucial step in creating a system of compliance and oversight that will increase transparency and accountability to address and prevent sex discrimination and harassment on college campuses,” said Fong, D-Monterey Park. “While there is still much work ahead, I am confident in the impact this legislative package will have for campus communities, especially students and staff. I look forward to continual collaboration between the Legislature and all California’s higher education institutions to address this issue of safety and equity on campus.”

    The 12 bills include:

    • AB 810, from Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, would require all public colleges and universities to use UC Davis’ policy to conduct employment verification checks to determine if a job applicant for any athletic, academic or administrative position had any substantial misconduct allegations from their previous employer.
    • AB 1790, from Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, would require CSU to implement recommendations made in a Title IX report conducted last year by the California State Auditor by Jan. 1, 2026. That report found the 23-campus system lacked resources and failed to carry out its Title IX responsibilities.
    • AB 1905, from Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-San Luis Obispo, would create parameters around employee retreat rights, letters of recommendations and settlements for administrators who have a substantiated sexual harassment complaint against them.
    • AB 2047, from Fong, would create an independent, statewide Title IX office to assist the community colleges, CSU and UC systems with Title IX monitoring and compliance, and create a statewide Title IX coordinator.
    • AB 2048, from Fong, would require each community college district and each CSU and UC campus to have an independent Title IX office.
    • AB 2326, from Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-Chula Vista, would create entities responsible for ensuring campus programs are free from discrimination and would require the community colleges, CSU and UC to annually present to the Legislature how their systems are actively preventing discrimination.
    • AB 2407, from Assemblymember Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, would require the California State Auditor to audit the community colleges, CSU and UC systems every three years on their ability to address and prevent sexual harassment on the campuses.
    • AB 2492, from Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, would create additional positions on college campuses to assist students, faculty and staff during the adjudication of sexual harassment complaints.
    • AB 2608, from Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, would require campuses to offer drug-facilitated sexual assault prevention training.
    • AB 2987, from Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-Hayward, would mandate that the community colleges and CSU provide timely updates on the outcomes of sexual discrimination and harassment cases to the people involved. The bill would request the same of UC.
    • Senate Bill 1166, from Sen. Bill Dodd, would establish annual reporting requirements for the community colleges and CSU to conduct a report on sexual harassment complaint outcomes, and a summary of how each campus worked to prevent sex discrimination. The bill would request the same of UC.
    • SB 1491, from Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Hayward, would create a notification process for students who attend private institutions to disclose discriminatory events to the U.S. Department of Education, even if their college or university is exempt from Title IX.

    The slate of bills follows a series of news nationally and statewide about mishandled Title IX cases. Last year, the CSU system was found to have mishandled a variety of cases based on reports from an independent law firm and the state auditor. CSU is currently implementing the changes and reforms called for in both reports, and it has already changed its policy allowing administrators who have committed misconduct to “retreat” to faculty positions.

    “Whether it’s sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, or any other form of misconduct, no student should feel unsafe or unwelcome in their learning environment,” said Lisa Baker, a representative from the student senate for California Community Colleges. “Unfortunately, harassment remains prevalent on college campuses, potentially affecting students’ mental health and academic performance. We students, and future students, are relying on Title IX and this package of bills for our success.”





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  • Legislature must tackle sex discrimination and harassment on college campuses

    Legislature must tackle sex discrimination and harassment on college campuses


    Yin Yang /iStock

    Addressing and preventing sex discrimination and sexual harassment on college campuses continues to be one of the most foundational challenges to improving campus climate at higher education institutions in our country.

    In the fall of 2021, as the Biden-Harris administration began its reexamination of Title IX, the federal regulation that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education, the Assembly Higher Education Committee also began its own reexamination of California’s policies to address and prevent sex discrimination and sexual harassment in higher education.

    Three years later, the Higher Education Committee released a 30-plus page report that revealed we are not doing nearly enough to support our public higher education institutions to create an inclusive and safe campus culture for our students, faculty and staff.

    While each public higher education institution does have a nondiscrimination policy in place, it is clear that our campus communities do not trust these institutions to prevent nor properly handle sex discrimination and sexual harassment on campus. According to interviews conducted by the committee and various surveys of students and faculty, campus communities feel that current policy focuses on protecting higher education institutions and not survivors of sexual discrimination and harassment.

    It is the responsibility of campus leadership to provide our students with a safe and inclusive environment; however, the Legislature also has a responsibility to support our institutions in that mission, and to hold them accountable if they fall short.

    My bills, Assembly Bill (AB) 2047 and AB 2048 are a necessary step that the Legislature must take in order to support California’s higher education institutions and its campus communities.

    These two bills are a part of an ambitious, 12-bill legislative package, authored by myself and seven of my legislative colleagues, and predominantly based on recommendations from the committee’s report.

    The package as a whole is imperative in order to foster cultural change, accountability and trust at our higher education institutions. AB 2047 and AB 2048 focus on shifting campus culture and renewing trust.

    AB 2047 will establish an independent systemwide Title IX office to assist with monitoring compliance throughout all three of California’s higher education segments, and AB 2048 will establish an independent Title IX office on each California State University and University of California campus, and in each community college district.

    These offices, both on campus and at the systemwide level, will provide supportive measures to survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination and adjudicate cases in a clear and transparent manner. Furthermore, these bills will work in tandem with the overall legislative package to provide reporting measures to ensure the higher education institutions are preventing and addressing cases of sex discrimination.

    The importance of creating an identifiable authority that will properly adjudicate cases of sex discrimination and implement preventative measures cannot be minimized. These bills will renew community trust in our public institutions and establish a campus culture primed to detect, prevent and address all forms of sex discrimination and harassment with supportive measures and restorative justice. 

    AB 2047 and AB 2048 will provide substantial change for survivors of sexual harassment, but they will also result in substantial monetary cost from the state’s general fund, possibly costing millions of dollars, in order to establish and staff these offices.

    As we are confronted with a significant budget deficit this year, difficult policy decisions will be made, but these bills should be a priority for the Legislature.

    Fundamental change is costly, and as we assess the true costs of these bills and the impact they will have on our state, we must also not forget to consider the cost of doing nothing: the human cost of students who do not feel safe at these institutions and may not be able to experience all that higher education has to offer. The cost of those who carry invisible wounds and do not achieve their full educational potential.

    I am a firm believer in the power and promise of higher education and its ability to transform lives and communities. No student should be deprived of that power and promise due to sex discrimination or sexual harassment.

    We are falling short of our responsibility to these campus communities by further allowing this status quo of handling complaints through costly monetary settlements and lawsuits to remain.

    We cannot let this continue.

    •••

    Mike Fong (D-Alhambra) represents California’s 49th Assembly District and serves as chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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